Wooden-pile protector.



C. F. LOCKWOOD. WOODEN PILE PROTECTOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 1?,I9l6- Patented Sept. 24, 1918.

' INVENTOR A TTORNE Y5 CHARLES F. LOCKWOOD, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

WOODEN-PILE PROTECTOR,

Specification of Letters Patent. Patenfd'sept; 24 1918,

Application filed July 17, 1916. Serial No. 109,629.

To all'who'm, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. LOCK- woon, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oakland, in the county of Alameda and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wooden-Pile Protectors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in wooden pile protectors wherein theprotector is automatically actuated by the movement of the water to, cleanse the pile and prevent the depositing of menacing sea growth, such as-teredos, barnacles or the like, whereby the life of the pile will be prolonged and preserved.

The chief characteristic of this invention resides in the provision of a device of the above described character which is more particularly applicable for the removing of the teredos" eggs which accumulate in grooves formed bythe teredos, the grooves being very inaccessible especially in the protectors with which I am familiar. carrying out my invention, I propose to pro vide a collar or ring, which is formed of flexible material, and upon which is mounted a plurality of buoyant members, each of which is provided withv a plurality of faces to form edges, corners, or points, the members being mounted for rotary movement independent of each other, whereby during the movement of the collar under the action of the water, the members will be. rotated during their vertical movement thus causing the irregular surfaces to en-. gage the grooves within the pile to eflectively remove the eggs therefrom, and at the same time will free themselves. and their supporting members of any foreign material.

.Another characteristic of this invention is to. provide a flexible means for cleaning and protecting that portion of thepile which is disposed below. the surface of the water, the said means being connected to. the main collar, upon which the buoyant members are mounted, and formed of flexible material whereby the said means will automatically adjust itself to the irregularities in the shape of the piling and; remove any growth therefrom through frictional contact therewith, and furthermore, for preventing the protector from being embedded within the see bottom u d r h a t n o the water,

theintegrity of the same and thus insuring the proper operation of the protector at all times. 1

Other characteristics of this invention will appear as the specification is read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the device showing the same in applied position upon the ile.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view tlirough the piling showing the device in p an.

Fig. 8 is a vertical sectional view through the upper portion of the pile and protector illustrating certain of the buoyant members capable of independent rotation on their support.

Referring to the drawings in detail, my invention comprises a ,main or top collar or ring 1, which is in this instance formed of a continuous chain, the collar being of such a size as to loosely encircle a pile. Mounted upon this collar 1 are a plurality of buoyant members 2 which are formed of any suitable material such as wood orthe like, and which-are inv this instance of cubical formation, although they may be of any shape or size to provide reasonably pointed projections to effectively remove eggs from the grooves within the piling. The members 2 are provided with transversely extending openings 3 through which .the chain or collar 1 is passed, the open ings bein of such a size as to permit the free rotatlon of the members independently of each other, whereby the corners and edges of the members will becaused to engage the grooves or crevices within the pile as will beunderstood.

Connected to the collar 1 at regular spaced intervals and depending from the same are the upper ends of the flexible members 4, the elements being of any suitable length and in this instance formed of chains. Connecting the flexible elements 4: at spaced intervals throughout their lengths are the flexible collars or rings5 the flexible elements 4. being of such a size as to loosely encircle the pile when applied thereto. In this instance the collars 5' are formed of chains as are the flexible elements. 4, it having been found in practice that the employment of chains is very effective in removin the teredos from the grooves or crevices o the piling, owing ging of the members 5 when positioned on the pile as in Fig.1 which causes the members 4 and 5 to lie against and frictionally contact with the surface of the pile- In this embodiment of my invention I have shown three collars or' rings 5' connecting the elements 4:, but I wish it to be clearly understood that any number of collars or any lengths and number of elements may be used as the case may demand without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention. The length of the elements 4 and the number of collars 5 may be determined by the depth of the water within which the pile is placed, it being understood that the protector is supposed to extend the entire length of the submerged portion of the pile.

In practice, the upper collar 1 including the buoyant members '2 will be applied to the piles so as to loosely encircle the same, the combined buoyancy of the members 2 supporting the collar 1 at the surface of the water and at the same time permitting the collar to be carried up or down in response to the rise or fall of the water level, either from the action of the waves or the tide. It will be evident that when the collar 1 is moved vertically upon the pile, the buoyant members 2 being mounted for rotary movement independently of each other, will be caused to rotate and in contact with the pile thus causing the members to scrape the surface of the pile to remove the sea growth which has adhered thereto, and at the same time to maintain their various surfaces free from seagrowth and to prevent the forma tion of rust on the chain support 1. In mak ing the buoyant members with a plurality of faces so as to provide the corners and edges, the members during their rotary movement will cause the irregular projections upon the members to engage within the grooves formed by the teredos to effectively remove the eggs therein. It will be evident that when the collar 1 is applied to a pile, the remaining collars 5 also encircle the pile and will be supported in depending position by means of the elements, the weight of the collars 5 drawing the elements l into frictional contact with the pile.

It will thus be seen that when the collar 1 is moved upwardly and downwardly upon the pile under the action of the water, the collars 5 will describe a similar movement and will engage the surface of the pile to remove the destructive sea growth.

It will be manifest from the foregoing that I have provided a simple and efficient means adapted to conform with the configuration of a pile to engage all surfaces thereof for automatically destroying or scraping off through frictional contact, destructive sea growth and more particularly the teredos eggs, the cubesand chains providing efiective means for scraping within the grooves formed by the teredos to remove the eggs therefrom.

It is thought from the foregoing taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, that the construction and operation of my device will be apparent to those skilled in the art, that minor changes in size, shape and proportion, and minor details of construction may b'e'made without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is 1. A pile protector comprising a plurality of flexible chain collars, flexible chain supporting elements connecting the collars in spaced relation, and a plurality of buoyant members mounted on the uppermost chain collar and independently rotatable relatively thereto on a horizontal axis.

2. A pile protector comprising a plurality of endless chains, flexible members connecting the chains, and buoyant members carried by and mounted to rotate on a horizontal aXis vertically to the uppermost chain.

3. A pile protector comprising a plurality of flexible endless chain collars for encircling a pile, a plurality of flexible chain supporting elements adapted for extending longitudinally of a pile and supporting within their length said collars at spaced intervals, and a plurality of buoyant members supported by the uppermost collar, said members each provided with an opening through which said supporting collar freely passes enabling said members to freely and independently rotate thereon.

4:. A pile protector comprising a flexible collar, and a plurality of buoyant members mounted to rotate on a horizontal axis on said collar.

5. A pile protector comprising a plurality of flexible collars adapted for loosely encircling a pile, flexible members connecting the collars, said collars adapted to sag between their points of support and frictionally contact with the surface of said pile, and a plurality of buoyant members rotatably mounted on the uppermost collar, said buoyant members being capable of sustaining the Weight of said protector.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES F. LOCKVVOOD,

Witnesses:

MABEL G. SYMMES, K. R. STINER.

topiti of this patent ay be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the flommissionerof ra t Washington, D. 6.? 

